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Editorial

Kasich should draw the line

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Sunday November 17, 2013 6:57 AM

Bills pending in the Ohio House and Senate to hamstring the state Controlling Board are the
knee-jerk reaction of Republicans unhappy that Gov. John Kasich turned to the board to carry out
the public’s will when lawmakers refused to.

If either of them should pass, Kasich should veto them.

Some Republicans are miffed because following their wrongheaded refusal to authorize a federally
funded expansion of Medicaid coverage, Kasich asked for and received the Controlling Board’s
approval to spend the federal money, made available through the Affordable Care Act.

Senate Bill 228, sponsored by Republican Chris Widener of Springfield, and House Bill 328,
sponsored by Republicans Ron Young of Leroy and Christina Hagan of Alliance, would limit the size
of spending requests that the board could approve. The Senate bill would cap approvals at 1 percent
of general revenue fund monies for the current year, or about $300 million this year. The House
version has a stricter cap — no more than 3.5 percent of whatever the General Assembly has
appropriated for excess funds.

Both bills amount to little more than a tantrum. The problem they purport to address is
nonexistent: The Controlling Board has authorized countless large expenditures before, including
allowing the Department of Education to spend $100 million in federal Race to the Top funds in 2010
and authorizing the spending of stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Moreover, tying the board’s hands with an arbitrary dollar-amount limit, requiring more spending
authorizations to be approved by the full legislature, would clog up the public agenda and
unnecessarily delay important state programs.

Beyond these practical concerns, however, is another key point: Expanding Medicaid was the right
thing to do.

It will bring the benefits of health insurance, including preventive care, to 275,000 Ohioans
who have had no coverage. It also is a net financial gain for Ohio; having more people covered,
with premiums paid by the federal government, will relieve Ohio of some of the health-care costs it
currently pays, such as for prisoners.

There also will be a boost to the economy, from Medicaid funds flowing to people and companies
that provide health-care goods and services.

One study, by a nonpartisan group working with Ohio State University, predicts that the
expansion will net the state $1.4 billion in savings through 2022.

Expansion was a no-brainer for anyone putting the interests of Ohioans first, but a noisy
minority of tea party Republicans weren’t willing to put Ohioans first. They were more interested
in making an ideological point of their opposition to the federal health-care law, which provides
the funding for the expansion.

Considering that a poll last spring showed that a majority of Ohioans supported Medicaid
expansion, the refusal to act constituted legislative negligence. It was especially galling that
opponents would deny available coverage to 275,000 people when most of the legislators enjoy
state-provided insurance, for which taxpayers pay 80 percent of the premium.

The Controlling Board serves a valuable purpose. In the unique case of the Medicaid expansion,
it helped bring the billions of dollars and incalculable public-health benefits. Lawmakers shouldn’t
hobble it out of spite.